


Marli

by FireEye



Category: Watership Down - Richard Adams
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-08 02:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16420712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: On a trip to the farm, Hyzenthlay makes a most unlikely ally.





	Marli

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Edonohana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edonohana/gifts).



The feline battle-cry was a distance away yet, and so desperately voiced that it sunk into bone.  A deep growl carried on the wind, rising in pitch to a second challenge.

 _Challenge_.  A cat on the hunt would be claws out of the dark.  Something about it didn’t feel right.

A moment’s hesitation, and Hyzenthlay raised herself above the grass.  She could see the farm cat, fluffed up to twice its size, near the hedge.  It was facing down a crow, which was pacing up and down, as though weighing its chances to get past her.  A second was sneaking up behind her.  There was a third in the grass, waiting on the success of the other two.

Hyzenthlay darted down the embankment.  Bigwig called after her, but she didn’t stop.

The crow behind startled airborne.  It landed again, not far enough away for comfort.  In an instant, Tab had whirled to face her, paw raised.  Hyzenthlay hunched down and froze.  This close, she could see the cat’s pale white teeth, and needle-sharp claws.  And it’s eyes, pupils narrowed to dangerous slits.

Tab gave another one of those angry, desperate cries, making a lunge for the nearest crow that hadn’t yet given up.

Bigwig joined them a mere moment later.  Not that he understood, but he wasn’t about to let Hyzenthlay face the cat alone.  He nudged her to move, _anywhere but here_ , but she didn’t budge.

“What’s gotten into you?” he grumbled, “What do you think you’re-...?”

There was a small nest dug under the hedge.  Tab’s kittens were hidden there; the crows had discovered the nest, and were willing to put the least amount of effort into waiting her out.  After all, she couldn’t save one without leaving the rest.

“You can’t be serious.”

Hyzenthlay didn’t move.  Tab’s growl was growing into another of those high-pitched screams.  The crows, though bemused, weren’t giving up an easy meal.  Rabbits didn’t matter.  One cawed.  Its fellow cackled.

Bigwig pushed his nose into the gap beneath hedge, and he dragged one of the ugly things out.  It complained.  _Loudly_.  The mere thought of carrying one of the cat’s kittens didn’t feel natural at all, but if that’s what Hyzenthlay was on about, that’s what they would do.

“Pick it up,” he told her.  “But _gently_.”

It was more difficult than it looked.  Once Hyzenthlay figured out what he meant, she headed straight for the nearest barn with a patchwork ball of fluff.  Dragging the second free of its nest, Bigwig followed her.

Kitten and all, he stamped when one of the crows mistook him for an easy mark.  It fluttered back, joining its fellow.

Hyzenthlay bolted back past him before he reached the closed door.  He disappeared under it as she ran back for the hedge.  She passed him again on the way back with the third kitten, and Bigwig charged the crow that shadowed her, chasing it back.

There were two left.  Bigwig took one.  Tail lashing, Tab followed him with the other.

In the dusty, sun-scented hay, Hyzenthlay crouched with the three mewing kittens, nuzzling their fur.  But they were crying for their mother.  Tab set the last kitten down with the rest, and laid herself alongside them.  Hyzenthlay moved over by Bigwig, though she glanced at the barn door.

“Hrair,” he assured her, ignoring the ball of fur at his feet.  Hyzenthlay pushed it, carefully, towards the rest of the litter.  Fidgeting, Bigwig eyed the cat.  ... _cats_.

“You do remember that she tried to send Hazel to the Black Rabbit?”

Digging her claws into the earth, Tab pulled her unflinching gaze away from Hyzenthlay and gave him a pointed look.  Then cleaned her shoulder first, then the head of the nearest kitten, one smaller than the rest.

“ _More_ than once.”

Hyzenthlay pressed up against him.  “They’re _kittens_ , Thlayli.”

“And when they all grow up, we’ll have hrair to deal with instead of just her.”

Bigwig squeezed under the door, grumbling as he went.  Hyzenthlay watched the cat, who seemed no less on the defense now than when she was facing down the crows.

“We dig,” Hyzenthlay told her.  “Hide underground.  Safe there.”

Tab’s tail flicked once.

“Safe here,” she stated.  “ _We_ kill _our_ enemies.”

Bigwig was right, and she was foolish, she thought, as she dug herself under the gap in the door.  But... they were _kittens_.

“You’re heavy again, yourself, aren’t you?” he asked, once she had joined him outside.  “Frith save us from Efrafan does.  You’ll want to bring the _man-kitten_ back to the warren next.”

She gave him a good natured shove, and tried to bring him back around.  “You’re not thinking of going back already?”

The crows weren’t a danger to them.  And, so long as the cat was in her den, the lettuce was theirs for the stealing.

***

The day faded into memory.

Tab could still be felt, if not always seen, watching from the shadows by those who braved the farm.  Once her kittens had grown some, she ranged wider than before; occasionally, if rarely, she would be seen as far as the base of the down.

Then, one sun dappled afternoon, after the rain, she was sitting in the grass, a mere distance outside the warren.  Simple, unannounced, as all cats were.

The startled alarm sent most running for the burrows.  Hyzenthlay froze where she was, and hunched down.  She was further out than most, and it was only common sense, _never run before the cat_.

Tab flattened in the grass, tail lashing.

The cat lunged.  Someone dashed headlong into Hyzenthlay from the side.  There was a commotion above them, and a surprised, startled screech.  She ran.  Fiver was running with her.  She didn’t turn to look back before she reached the nearest burrow, and there she felt someone else pressed against her.  It might’ve been Clover; it might’ve been Bigwig.  They were both there.  And Hazel was pushing up the run beside them, utterly baffled.

“Frith and Inlé.”  That was Bigwig.  “I’ve seen it all.”

Tab, strutting and pleased with herself, as all cats could be, dragged the now-limp hawk in her mouth.  She was obviously aware of the attention of the rabbits, for she dropped it long enough to clean a dainty paw.

“ _Of course_ you weren’t,” Hyzenthlay told her quietly, interpreting the feigned nonchalance from the safety of the burrow.

They may have been hrair, but there was one less elil in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> -I have no idea where this came from, it just kind of... unfolded in my head in its entirely while I was reading your letter and looking for treats to write.  
> -I'm also not sure it entirely makes sense, but it demanded writing, so... there you go.  
> -I learned writing it that rabbits _don't_ carry their kittens? _Huh_. But I figure between being Owsla and raiding farms, Bigwig probably knows how cats manage it and there's that whole carrying carrots thing he did once upon a time.  
>  -Most of all, I hope you enjoy it. :)


End file.
